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  1. #1
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    Peter Alpiger
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    1996 Trans Am WS6; 1994 Corvette [GS Clone]
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    Default Complete Trans Am LED Conversion (Interior & Exterior) - WARNING PIC HEAVY

    After lots of hunting and searching online and finding that nobody's really taken the time to make a complete write-up for this, I started doing my own digging and pulling various parts off my car to compile a COMPLETE list of every single bulb that goes in the car for anyone else who wants to do the same or even just certain bulbs. I put this all into Excel and then broke it out into sections, the same way SuperBrightLEDs.com has it broken out for simplicity when purchasing.

    My list shows what only what is necessary for my car, a 96 Trans Am M6. I know the V6s will require a different number of bulbs in the gauge cluster, and I don't know the amount for Camaros, but this is a great start for anyone with a Camaro looking to make a list to compare.

    I also pulled my gauge cluster out and took some good pictures of it for anyone else's reference on how many and where each bulb goes. I searched quite a bit on Google and couldn't find any good pictures of the backside of a cluster with the cover off, so you're welcome. Btw, you WILL need to order new socket bases for the 7 larger bulbs on the back, which are in my part list below. The original socket bases do NOT work with the wedge base LEDs.

    Under the section for "Interior Dashboard", the Warning Indicators are as listed (12 total, subtract accordingly if you don't have TCS in your car):
    ABS INOP
    CHECK GAUGES
    LOW OIL
    SEATBELT
    PARKING BRAKE
    TCS OFF
    AIR BAG
    LOW COOLANT
    LOW TRAC
    SERVICE ENGINE SOON
    SECURITY
    SKIP SHIFT

    Also, since my car is a manual, there is no light for the shifter, but for you auto guys, the LED bulb you'll need for the Automatic Shifter Indicator plate is a 74-xHP. (The "x" indicates the color of the LED, as you'll see below; almost all of mine are “R” for red, since I'm planning to go to a full red LED interior. Certain LEDs I left the stock color to match the colored film in the gauge cluster, as well as exterior LEDs matching their respective housing colors for legality.)

















    I will be purchasing mine here soon and doing the whole swap, so I'll post up before and after pics when they get here to show the difference. Hopefully this helps someone else out, since I know it took me quite a few days of hunting around online to come up with this and quadruple check myself to make sure the bulbs and quantities are all correct lol. A big thank you to @MeanTA who helped me get this list started and put up with me asking the same crap over and over to make absolutely sure this was all correct.

    Edit: So I just placed my order today for all of the LEDs, so in the interest of showing full disclosure of before and after, I got a bunch of stock bulb pictures for comparison once the LEDs get here. I also discovered that I have a few dead bulbs in the car anyway, so this will be great if even just to get all the lights working again lol. Here are the stock bulbs (you'll be able to notice the dead ones):

































    Got my foot well LEDs installed today, they look great and I like how easy it was to splice it into the dimmer wheel to control the brightness (dark green wire coming out of the back of the dimmer wheel). One pic with my garage door motor light on, one with the garage all lights out:




    And the finished result after swapping everything! It's kinda hard to see the magnitude of brightness through a phone camera, so I swapped between normal and night vision mode on my phone to grab the most amount of light, but the difference is definitely noticeable to the naked eye in person, trust me. It certainly makes the car look more modern with the brighter bulbs matching what some of the newer cars are getting for light output these days.




























    Those last 2 pics are with just the DRLs on in my dark garage, really gives you an idea of how bright they are lol.

    Also, yes, that is indeed a trunk lamp added into my T-top holder area, the same that comes factory on all convertible 4th gens. I felt it needed to be added, since the dome light is so crappy thanks to the stupid smoked lens GM put on them. The best part is it's super easy to install and looks factory because it technically is! (Just not on a coupe.) The red LED in mine puts out an alright amount of light (red doesn't shine through those funky lenses the cars in the 90s were so fond of, but a bright white LED in there will put out a TON of light, I tested it with a spare bulb). Here's a quick install guide for anyone interested in adding one.

    I pulled the dome light cover off to find what color wires I was dealing with and used a test light to find the power lead. Oddly, the red wire here is the ground and the white is the power, but they then go into the plug and come out reversed, so the blue-with-white-stripe is power and the white is ground:



    From here, there's no need to drop the headliner, the wires run across to the big plastic panel on the driver's side beside the rear seat. Just remove that panel and you should see the blue striped and white wire you need hanging above the subwoofer:




    I discovered through trial and error that you DO NEED TO run the power and ground from the trunk light to both of these, otherwise the trunk light will never turn itself off if grounded to the body of the car.

    Conveniently, there's already a rectangle hole below the trunk latch underneath the carpet, since coupes and verts use the same piece back there, so I just sharpened my Gerber real good and peeked through the back/top of the trunk latch and cut from the interior side. Made an X cut from corner to corner in the rectangle hole, then straight cut the flaps it made to leave a nice clean rectangle cut in the carpet perfectly matching the hole in the bracket behind it. Ran 2 wires for power and ground (roughly 5 ft. long or so each) through the side of the bracket and through the hole:




    Ran the wires through the wire loom up the driver's side under the carpet and panels and all to the blue and white wire above the sub, where I cut each one and used a butt connector to splice in the wires from the trunk light (I tried using butt splice connectors like this , but the ones I had were too large and didn't get a good connection on the small 20-gauge wires here), then wrapped it all up good with electrical tape:





    Back to the other end, 2 female quick disconnect ends attached to the wires and then time to plug in the light to test:



    All working, time to put everything back together and see how it turned out. Looks like it rolled out of the factory with it




    And now in red

    Last edited by Blackbird96WS6; 03-03-2014 at 10:29 AM. Reason: Added final pics
    96 Trans Am WS6 LT1 M6: 10/7/11 - current: 245.7 RWHP / 266.2 RWTQ - 14.462s @ 98.28 MPH
    94 Corvette LT1 A4: 4/12/13 - current: No dyno #s yet - 9.547s @ 75.11 MPH (1/8 mile)
    92 Lumina Euro 3.4L LQ1 A4: 1/15/06 - current: The beater car that refuses to die...

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  3. #2
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    Shaun
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    Default

    such wow

    thanks for the write-up. this should help alot
    2021 Charger Scat 392
    1994 Firebird Formula 381 stroker - Carrying the torch! - 9.90 @ 134.3mph on a 200 shot

    The wrench/driver for LTConvert's 94 Z28- Ellwein 383/LE Trickflows/ D1SC / CPT Ultra Pro Race 4L60E
    10.78 @ 125mph. Shooting for 9.99 for Frank Cahall!

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  5. #3
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    Peter Alpiger
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    Default

    No problem! Figured there had to be more interest in this mod, but the lack of info for us Firebird guys is disappointing. All the write ups on the other site are aimed at Camaros.
    96 Trans Am WS6 LT1 M6: 10/7/11 - current: 245.7 RWHP / 266.2 RWTQ - 14.462s @ 98.28 MPH
    94 Corvette LT1 A4: 4/12/13 - current: No dyno #s yet - 9.547s @ 75.11 MPH (1/8 mile)
    92 Lumina Euro 3.4L LQ1 A4: 1/15/06 - current: The beater car that refuses to die...

  6. #4
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    Default

    Thanks for the write up...

    I did my Jeep dash in all LED's...I accidentally replaced the high beam with a normal power one. I feel like I'm in a rave every time I hit the high beams.
    2012 Sierra - 5.3, Summit "Stage 1" Truck Cam
    1994 Jimmy - LS? LT? 4wd? AWD? Time? Money?
    1994 Formula - 5.3, Terminator X, Billet VS7875, "Best Cam", T56, QP 9"
    Formula Build Thread


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  8. #5
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    Peter Alpiger
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Sahara54 View Post
    Thanks for the write up...

    I did my Jeep dash in all LED's...I accidentally replaced the high beam with a normal power one. I feel like I'm in a rave every time I hit the high beams.
    Hahaha I'm even going to add an LED strip to the foot wells in mine to boot. Definitely going to look evil at night time car shows when I'm done.

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Xparent Red Tapatalk 2
    96 Trans Am WS6 LT1 M6: 10/7/11 - current: 245.7 RWHP / 266.2 RWTQ - 14.462s @ 98.28 MPH
    94 Corvette LT1 A4: 4/12/13 - current: No dyno #s yet - 9.547s @ 75.11 MPH (1/8 mile)
    92 Lumina Euro 3.4L LQ1 A4: 1/15/06 - current: The beater car that refuses to die...

  9. The Following User Says Thank You to Blackbird96WS6 For This Post:


  10. #6
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    Peter Alpiger
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    Default

    Just placed my order for all of the LEDs. Decided to bite the bullet and do the whole car at once and not drag it out lol. I'll get some pics up of the stock bulbs while I wait for my order to arrive.
    96 Trans Am WS6 LT1 M6: 10/7/11 - current: 245.7 RWHP / 266.2 RWTQ - 14.462s @ 98.28 MPH
    94 Corvette LT1 A4: 4/12/13 - current: No dyno #s yet - 9.547s @ 75.11 MPH (1/8 mile)
    92 Lumina Euro 3.4L LQ1 A4: 1/15/06 - current: The beater car that refuses to die...

  11. #7
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    if you got some time can you do the research for a 94 camaro as well. lol

    seriously though post some pictures when your done, i have both bumpers off so all my bulbs have been exposed for a few years, i figure i might as well replace them all when i put it back together.

  12. #8
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    Peter Alpiger
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by blkchevyz View Post
    if you got some time can you do the research for a 94 camaro as well. lol

    seriously though post some pictures when your done, i have both bumpers off so all my bulbs have been exposed for a few years, i figure i might as well replace them all when i put it back together.
    Lol I can find em if you can get me some good pics of the front and back of your gauge cluster like I showed above for mine (to know how many bulbs you need). I'll also need to know what bulbs go into your tail lights and how many, since I'm sure it's set up different than my Trans Am (4 tail light/blinker bulbs in mine). I believe the rest of the interior should be the same number of bulbs for the general stuff, but I'll try to dig and make sure.
    96 Trans Am WS6 LT1 M6: 10/7/11 - current: 245.7 RWHP / 266.2 RWTQ - 14.462s @ 98.28 MPH
    94 Corvette LT1 A4: 4/12/13 - current: No dyno #s yet - 9.547s @ 75.11 MPH (1/8 mile)
    92 Lumina Euro 3.4L LQ1 A4: 1/15/06 - current: The beater car that refuses to die...

  13. #9

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    I can't find the glove box light, where is it on the car in the glove box? Lol sorry

  14. #10
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    Peter Alpiger
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    Quote Originally Posted by New2LT View Post
    I can't find the glove box light, where is it on the car in the glove box? Lol sorry
    Open your glove box and run your hand along the top of the opening right around the area where the door latches. You should feel a plunger there and the bulb is up behind it.
    96 Trans Am WS6 LT1 M6: 10/7/11 - current: 245.7 RWHP / 266.2 RWTQ - 14.462s @ 98.28 MPH
    94 Corvette LT1 A4: 4/12/13 - current: No dyno #s yet - 9.547s @ 75.11 MPH (1/8 mile)
    92 Lumina Euro 3.4L LQ1 A4: 1/15/06 - current: The beater car that refuses to die...

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